Podengo at my local animal shelter

I volunteer at my local animal shelter in Jersey City, New Jersey. I was there today and noticed a new dog that was picked up as a stray. He looks ALOT like a Podengo Medio (maybe Grande) wire coat. I was unable to take a picture today but I'm wondering if there are any Podengo Medio's or Grande's wire coat registered in New Jersey that could possibly be missing. I myself have a Portuguese Podengo Pequeno smooth coat so I'm familiar with the breed. Any advice would be great!

Massachussets and Rhode Island saw considerable immigration from portugal during the early 20th Century. There are important Portuguese-speaking colonies in RI. Many were picked up as sailors in the Cape Verde islands by American whaling ships out of New Bedford, who had lost a few crew on the trip south. Once they got to New England, few ever went back. Maybe they collected some dogs, too. The podengo is the favourite dog both of many Portuguese and of many Cape Verdeans from the former portuguese archipelago in the Atlantic.

Sadly it is not unusual for people from this culture to allow their dogs to breed - in warmer climes than New England they do this in the street. Often the puppies are not wanted and are simply allowed to wander away, in search of food.

We have rescued and helped to rescue four Podengo medios from the Cape Verde islands, so far. We also came to love a Podengo Pequeno, rescued by a South African living in Cape Verde who named him Vlekkie (Afrikaans for Fleckie), Sadly he was poisoned with strycchnine.

At Christmas another Podengo Medio arrived on our doorstep, so we have named her Maria - for the Mae de Dio. Now yet another a male puppy has turned up. Both are wonderfully affectionate, but there are no dog rescue homes in the Cape Verdes. So their fate will be a slow and horrible death from strycchnine poisoning unless we can protect them

SOS Cats and Dogs run by two Italian girls in the islands are conducting a sterilisation campaign to reduce the numbers of strays produced every year. But the killing continues. The American ambassador`s pet was one victim of the indiscriminate cull.

Last edited by james ensor on Mon Sep 30, 2013 7:05 am; edited 2 times in total

Not sure why you think the dogs turning up in Cape Verde are Podengos - please come up with some pictures. That is way out of any territory where the dogs are known and your profile pic is certainly not a podengo. So post some pics - if you have trouble with it let me know.

Cape Verde and indeed Brazil were very close to Portugal for centuries when they were Portuguese colonies. Most of the dogs which you see today in Cape Verde originated in Portugal, until quite recently, when Europeans from other countries started to import pedigree dogs. The base dog population is of two breeds - Labradors, originally called the St John`s water dog, which Portuguese fishing the Grand Banks adopted from Newfoundland and brought back with them to Portugal. The name Labrador is Portuguese for farmer. The fisherman used to sail to the island of Sal in Cape Verde to collect salt to produce their salt cod, known as Bacalhau in Portuguese. Sal is Portuguese for salt and there are still extensive sources of sea salt, on Sal. It is known that the first Labradors arrived in Sal, Cape Verde in 1905, probably escaping from the confines of a fishing boat.

The second common Cape Verde breed is a Podengo, both Medio and Pequeno. These are presumed to have arrived much earlier. They would have been used to keep down the rats on Portuguese ships. As far as dog migration is concerned, distance should be considered from the port of entry. They rarely seem to have travelled far overland, but were carried around the world on ships.

New Bedford, Mass was the entry port for most Portuguese whalers, who were recruited by American skippers and never went home, after seeing the promised land. This is why there is still a concentration of Podengos in the two New England states of Rhode Island and Massachussets, where whale ships docked. Most of their sailors although referred to as Portuguese were actually Cape Verdeans of mixed African and Portuguese ancestry. But their dogs were pure Portuguese.

It is most likely that Cape Verdean Podengos were the first to reach New England.